Roasted Garlic soup with Lardons and Potatoes

This is a very simple soup, with very simple flavors, albeit bold ones. Roasting the garlic also adds a little kick to this hearty soup. I got the idea for this soup from a friend who sent me her favorite food blog ( other then Peter's Eats) called http://smittenkitchen.com/. It has some great recipes on there, all with very simple and robust ingredients. It also has pretty great photography on it, which makes all the food look amazing; something I've yet to achieve haha.

I adapted the original recipe quite a bit. The original was just the roasted garlic, onions and stock, while mine has a whole lot more because I had some extra things in my fridge and pantry.

Roasted Garlic Soup

1 head garlic, unpeeled

1/2 head garlic, peeled

1/2 onion, sliced

1/4 stick of butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 large baked potato, diced

3 slices bacon, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place 1 head of unpeeled garlic in a small baking dish, pout olive oil over, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap tightly with tin foil and roast for 45 minutes until fragrant and tender.
3. In a large saucepan, melt butter, toss in sliced onions. Cook until translucent, add roasted garlic and raw garlic.
4. Add stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes until raw garlic is soft. Carefully blend soup, a little at a time with a blender.
5. Return blended soup to stove, add cream, red pepper, bacon and potato chunks.
6. Let reduce under medium-low heat until thick and the potatoes are tender, season with salt and pepper, enjoy!!!